Vavilov, M.I. Poslednie Dni v Russkoi Amerike. Iz Zapisok Ochevidtsa. 1867-1868 [Last Days in Russian America. From the Notes by an Eye-Witness. 1867-1868] // From: Russkaya Starina. 1886. Vol. XLIX. Pp. 549-560; Vol. L. Pp. 593-598; Vol. LI. Pp. 605-614. [Saint Petersburg: Typ. of V.S. Balashev, 1886].

First edition. Octavo (ca. 23x15 cm). A custom made convolute (collection) of three articles from the “Russkaya Starina” magazine: pp. 549-560; 593-598; 605-614 [= 28 pp.]. With a 16-page article “Expedition of the Russian Army to India” (pp. 599-614) bound in. 20th-century paper wrappers. An ink stamp “A magazine offprint” and an ink note “Russkaya Starina, vol. XLIX, 1886” on the first page. Paper slightly age-toned, spine with a minor crack on the bottom, but overall a very good copy.

Rare original Russian source on the history of the Alaska Sale to the United States in 1867. Written by one M.I. Vavilov - an eye-witness “of the official transfer of the colonies” (Poslednie dni… p. 549), the three-part article describes the events in New Archangel in October of 1867 and life in Russian America up to the spring of 1868. Vavilov was likely an associate of the Russian American Company and lived in New Archangel for “six years” (Poslednie dni… p. 549). His account was published almost twenty years after the Alaska Sale in three issues of the Saint Petersburg “Russkaya Starina” magazine (1886: vol. XLIX, No. 3 (March), pp. 549-560; vol. L, No. 6 (June), pp. 593-598; vol. LI, No. 9 (September), pp. 605-614) and was never published in a book form or translated into other languages.

From the short summaries published before each article:

Vol. XLIX. No. 3 (March): New Archangel on Sitka Island. Arrival of American pioneers. Formal transfer of the colonies. Idleness of the Russians. Natural riches of the Northwest America. Liquidation of the affairs of the Russian American Company. Population of the colonies and their occupations. Rights of the “sold” people. Their fate after the sale. Conclusion.

Vol. L. No. 6 (June): Suddenness of the surrender of the Russian colonies. The last Chief Manager. [Life of the] colonies’ inhabitants during the year of the transfer. One of the reasons for the colonies’ surrender to the Americans. New administration. First Russian case of the American judges. Complicated position of the Chief Manager. Newly made republicans. The state of Orthodox Christianity on the Alaskan territory.

Vol. LI. No. 9 (September): New Archangel in 1868. The fortress and its commander. Shops and goods. Arrival of a ship on a circumnavigation voyage. Vodka and its significance in Alaska. Colonial money. Card games. The inhabitants’ food supplies. The doctor’s meat celebration. Hospital. Dining at the governor’s house. Dependency of the colonies from the metropole. The American flag.

The articles mention the last Russian Governor of Alaska, Prince Dmitry Maksutov (1832-1889) and his wife, manager of the Russian American Company Pavlov and his trial by a new American judge, Paul, the bishop of New Archangel and the Aleutian Islands (1866-1870) the head of the hospital in New Archangel doctor Tilling, and others. The first article is supplemented with the text of the “Treaty of the transfer of Russian North American colonies, ratified by the Emperor” from May 3, 1867. Overall an historically interesting original source on the history of the last years of Russian rule in Alaska and the process of its transfer to the United States.

The convolute also contains a 16-page article, “Expedition of the Russian Army to India” (pp. 599-614), written in 1855 by a Russian military engineer, Yevgeny Yegorov (1803-1862) and presenting a plan of Russian military invasion to British India.